Nico & Dani   (Unrated Version)

 

Picture: B-     Sound: B-     Extras: C+     Film: B-

 

 

There are so many coming of age films that do not work, it is amazing they still get greenlighted at all, but Nico and Dani (2000) at least is ambitious and does manage to work enough, especially with the controversial twist of having its male leads discovering their sexuality with some very attractive girls, as well as each other.  However, before you think “not again” or “so what else is new”, the film has absolutely no pretensions about sex or is trying to push homosexuality in the fake, plastic way that the media is currently doing in a way that does a great disservice to that community and the rest of us.

 

Psychologists will be the first to tell you that it is far from uncommon for younger persons of the same gender to have at least one encounter in between being born bisexual (as Freud puts it) and being on the way to their final destination as an adult sexual being.  This film is never gross, exploitive, stupid, unrealistic, dishonest, or even heavy-handed.  Instead, the events between al the characters are believable, well acted, and especially matter-of-fact, not making a big deal about any of the sexual encounters.  In that respect, it is quite ahead of its time.

 

However, it is not the deepest look at teenagers, naturalistic as they are here.  Director Cesc Gay (who co-wrote the screenplay adaptation with Tomas Aragay from Jordi Sanchez’s play Krampack, its original Spanish title) has some real skill in bringing the play to life and it never feels like it came form the stage.  That is something too many directors fail at, and that says something.  Whatever else I was looking for, it will simply have to come from other films.  Their uses of drugs and alcohol seem to also be a distraction from further, better development of the film and its characters, but that is the story’s idea of realism.  Other issues about the film cannot be issued within it, but that literally is a separate essay.

 

Nico (Jordi Vilches) is visiting Dani (Fernando Ramallo) at his home near the beach for the summer, getting away from his school season life.  The weather is great this season (it is amazing they never seem to get rain or cloudiness for the three months the film takes place).  The two are such good friends that they talk very frankly about sexuality, what they know of it, then they become somewhat physically involved.  In the meantime, they also want to get with some of the local girls, also coming into their own.  The parents who are around do not notice this much for the most part, also involved with their own situations, but they are on the periphery.  That is a big plus for this film, because it needs that focus to work.

 

The 1.78 X 1 image has some red trouble, is not anamorphically enhanced, but does not look bad for what looks like a PAL format recycling.  Andreu Rebes’ cinematography is very good, making the audience feel they are in every location.  This must be something to see in 35mm.  The Dolby Digital is surprising in 5.1 AC-3 surround and is not bad, offering some good surrounds.  There are various genres of music throughout, the film is mostly in Spanish, but there is more English than expected.  The ambiance and location sounds are nicely reproduced as well.  Extras are also more than usual, with an 18-minute behind-the-scenes segment, nearly 9-minute interview section with the leads and director, a trailer that grossly undersells the film and should be withdrawn, and even two music videos for songs featured prominently in the film.

 

Some may have a problem with dealing with adolescent sexuality at all, but Hip Hop alone proves it is rampant (like Rock music before it), so who can be shocked at this point?  This film is in the R-rated region and handles its subject matter exceptionally well, not easy or common these days.  It is also a film even the supposedly bold, daring and innovate American Independent cinema would likely not be able to make, exposing those adjectives as a fraudulent description of a cinema that has become more comatose and “boutique” and “gourmet” oriented than cinematic.  Nico and Dani is what it is, just like its characters, and that is something to see.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo